The Business Environment

Case study
You work in the HR Team of a medium sized organisation and are studying for your people
practice qualification. In a recent discussion with your manager, you expressed how important
you thought it was for employees to understand the organisation’s business environment. You
feel this is especially important for people practice professionals as their roles impact on the
policies, processes and values of the organisation, which in turn impact on all the people within
the organisation.
Inspired by this discussion, your manager has asked you to help prepare for the team’s next
development day. A team-based learning needs analysis has shown that as well as more
knowledge about the business environment, the team would benefit from a deeper
understanding of organisational culture and how humans behave in organisations. The team
would also like to build their knowledge and skills in relation to change management.
Preparation for the Tasks:
▪ Spend time planning your answer. You should attend the Assessment Q&A session if you
have any questions about the assessment tasks.
▪ Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
▪ Pay attention to how your evidence is presented, remember you are working in the People
Practice Team.
▪ Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.
. You will also benefit from:
▪ Reflecting on your own experiences of learning opportunities and continuing professional
development.
▪ Reading the CIPD Insight, Fact Sheets and related online materials on these topics.
Don’t forget to:
▪ Complete the front cover sheet and place at the front of your assessment.
▪ Use the bullet points below each task as headings and sub-headings so your marker can
see where your answer begins.
Task One – Slide Deck for Team Day
Your manager has asked you to prepare a presentation (slide deck and brief presenter notes) in
readiness for delivery to the HR Team at the next Team day. The aim of the presentation, entitled
‘The Business Environment’ is for team members to gain a general understanding of their
organisation’s business environment and the key issues that can affect this.
Your presentation (which you are not required to deliver) can be based on your own organisation
or one(s) that you are familiar with, and should include the following:
TASK 1: 100 words (900 – 1100 words with +/- 10%)
▪ Application of an analysis tool (such as PESTLE) to examine the key external forces
impacting or likely to impact an organisation’s activities. (AC 1.1)
To answer this:
▪ Discuss atleast three PESTLE external factors that impact on an organisation.
▪ You need to describe the factors AND the impact it has on the business.
▪ An explanation of an organisation’s business goals and why it is important for organisations
to plan for how they will achieve these. Your explanation should include examples of
planning, such as how a business has been structured or specific policies introduced or
people practices followed, in order for business goals to be achieved. (AC 1.2)
To answer this:
▪ Discuss atleast TWO strategic goals of an organisation.
▪ Explain why it is important for an organisation to plan.
▪ Describe the role of people practitioners in supporting the planning and achievement of
these goals of the organisation.
▪ An explanation of an organisation’s products and/or services and main customers. (AC
1.3)
To answer this:
▪ Discuss the products/ services offered by the organisation
▪ Describe who the main customers are of the business
▪ Describe some of the characteristics or needs of these customers.
OR
▪ Discuss very briefly the products/ services offered by the organisation.
▪ Describe who the main customers are of the business very briefly.
▪ Discuss the services offered by HR to support the organisation.
▪ Describe who the main customers are for the HR department of the business
▪ Describe some of the needs of these customers of HR.
▪ A short review of different technologies available to people professionals and how these
can be used to improve working practices and collaboration. You might consider for
example, technologies relating to communications, information sharing, record keeping,
learning, wellbeing, productivity or security. (AC 1.4)
To answer this:
▪ Discuss atleast THREE types of technology used by your organisation’s HR
department to support working practices and collaboration
▪ Describe how these technologies is helpful in promoting communication or improving
working practices.
Task Two – Guidance Leaflet
In line with the team’s learning need analysis and knowing that they will be required to support a
number of change initiatives soon, your manager has also asked you to prepare a guidance leaflet
for the team. The guidance leaflet should cover two main themes and include examples to ‘bring
the information to life’. The two themes are:
1) information about organisational culture and how people behave in organisations
2) guidance about the impact of change and how organisational change can most effectively
be managed.
TASK 2 – Word Count 1500 words (1350 – 1650 words with +/- 10%)
Your guidance leaflet should explain:
▪ What is meant by workplace (organisation) culture (AC 2.1)
▪ Why it is important to foster an appropriate and effective workplace culture. (AC 2.1)
To answer this:
▪ Define the term organisation culture using references.
▪ Discuss different types of culture that an organisation has and how might this impact on
the working practices.
▪ Give TWO reasons for having an appropriate culture.
▪ Use examples from your organisation’s culture to explain this.
▪ How organisations are whole systems in which different areas and aspects such as
structure, systems and culture, are all inter-related. (AC 2.2)
▪ An example of how good people practice, and an example of how bad people practice can
impact other parts of the organisation or beyond the organisation (for example through
developing new and better ways of doing things or through poor practice stimulating new
legislation). (AC 2.2)
To answer this:
▪ Describe what it means for an organisation to be a whole system referring to an
example of the type of structure that your organisation has.
▪ Discuss an example where four different functions in your organisation might work
together to achieve ONE organisation objective. (This should help you discuss how it is all
inter-related and operating as a ‘whole system’)
▪ Give one example of GOOD people practice and how this impacts other parts of the
organisation
▪ Give one example of BAD people practice and how this impacts inside or outside the
organisation
▪ How individuals may learn and develop in different ways in organisations and how this
might be accommodated in assessing and developing skills and capabilities. (AC 2.3)
To answer this:
▪ Describe some ways in which people learn in an organisation.
▪ Give example of a learning model to show this might impact on individual learning and
development
▪ Discuss an example where this model might help in assessing the skills or capabilities
in an organisation
▪ Suggest some ways in which this can be used by the organisation in designing and
delivering the L&D initiatives.
▪ Why it is important for an organisation’s business that change is predicted, planned and
effectively managed. (AC 3.1)
To answer this:
▪ Give an introduction to the topic of change in organisation. You can include an example
of change your organisation is experiencing.
▪ Discuss the importance of why change should be predicted, planned and managed.
▪ Give example of change model to show this might be used of planning and managing
change.
▪ The nature and importance of different roles that can be played by people practice
professionals, in relation to change agendas. You might consider roles such as:
gatekeeper, champion, facilitator, critical friend or record-keeper. (AC 3.2)
To answer this:
▪ Describe some ways in which people professionals can support change in organisation.
▪ Give THREE different roles that people practitioners play in managing, delivering or
supporting change in an organisation.
▪ You could give an example from your workplace to enhance this for high pass.
▪ How change can impact people in organisations, such as changing their role or status or
financial situation, and the different ways people may respond to change. (AC 3.3)
To answer this:
▪ Describe some ways in which employees might experience change in the organisation.
▪ Give examples of individual, departmental or organisational change that an employee
may experience.
▪ Use a relevant model like (Kubler-Ross or Fisher curve) to explain how people respond
to change.
▪ Briefly include some ways in which HR professionals can support these different
responses.
Assessment Grading
The grid below shows the range of results you could achieve based on total number of marks
awarded across all assessment criteria.
To pass the unit assessment you must achieve a 2 (Low Pass) or above for each of the
assessment criteria.
The overall result achieved will dictate the outcome you receive for the unit, provided
NONE of the assessment criteria have been failed or referred.
Overall mark Unit result
0 to 19 Fail
20 to 25 Low Pass
26 to 32 Pass
33 to 40 High Pass
7
Marking Grid
Mark Range Descriptor
1
Fail
Insufficient demonstration of knowledge, understanding or skills (as
appropriate) required to meet the AC.
Insufficient examples included, where required, to support answers.
Presentation and structure of assignment is not appropriate and does not
meet the assessment brief.
2 Low Pass Demonstrates an acceptable level of knowledge, understanding or skills
(as appropriate) required to meet the AC.
Sufficient and acceptable examples included, where required, to support
answers.
Required format adopted but some improvement required to the
structure and presentation of the assignment.
Answers are acceptable but could be clearer in responding to the task and
presented in a more coherent way.
3 Pass Demonstrates good knowledge, understanding or skills (as appropriate)
required to meet the AC.
Includes confident use of examples, where required, to support each
answer. Relevant workplace example is included.
Presentation and structure of assignment is appropriate for the
assessment brief.
Answers are clear and well expressed.
4 High Pass Demonstrates a wide range and confident level of knowledge,
understanding or skill (as appropriate).
Includes strong examples that illustrate the point being made, that link and
support the answer well. Relevant workplace example in EVERY AC is
included.
Answers are applied to the case organisation or an alternative
organisation.
Answers are clear, concise and well argued, directly respond to what has
been asked.
The presentation of the assignment is well structured, coherent and
focusses on the need of the questions. Include lots of subheadings, bullet
points, inforgraphics, strong formatting.
Includes clear evidence of the use of references to wider reading to help
inform answer. Two or more references are used in EACH assessment
criteria.